Environmental stewardship. Interfaith dialogue. Community outreach. Organic gardening. Feeding the Hungry.

Each of those undertakings is challening in its own right. But for Amy Lee and the Tulsa First SDA Church, a Hiram Edson-like vision in a field led to an opportunity to do them all at once.

"I was out walking and saw an empty field and thought, 'That would be a wonderful place for a garden,'" says Lee.

“This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.” Isn’t that how the old hymn goes? It may be the tune that crosses our minds as we read the news headlines, especially the headlines about the state of our environment. The ozone layer is getting thinner; the earth is getting warmer; the ice caps are melting; sea levels are rising; the weather is increasingly erratic and deadly. Some of us might even view it as another signs of the time, yet another indication of the nearness of the end.

As the folks at Grist say, "Earth Day is for amateurs." Of course it's a good reminder, but beyond a day, there are lots of ways to live an increasingly sustainable life.

Here's a good tip on coffee.

As far I know, not a single Seventh-day Adventist college or university is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Several schools have nascent environmental initiatives - Green La Sierra and Pacific Union College's Angwin Ecovillage - unlike in the rest of American education. But the green wave has not really affected Adventist institutional priorities in significant ways yet - despite student interest.

Our friend Trisha Famisaran has been working very hard organizing a revolutionary April 24-26 conference entitled:

“Adventist Women & the Earth…a Response to Ecofeminism”

She writes:

La Sierra University hopes to bring a new look to its Riverside, California campus: Green. Vice President for Student Life Yamileth Bazan, with the help of both students and faculty, hopes to make environmental responsibility a mainstay of Adventist higher education at LSU.

The plan to green La Sierra encompasses changes from the macro, institutional level to lifestyle changes on the personal level.

In the current issue of the Adventist World, Jan Paulsen offers up some compelling thoughts on how Seventh-day Adventists might ground their care for creation in their faith. (This are just some excerpts. I recommend the entire piece.)

Our faith is grounded in Christ’s message of wholeness—in a spiritual transformation that also encompasses the emotional and physical being. No aspect of human life lies beyond Christ’s touch; no facet of human activity falls outside the scope of His care.

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Baltimore neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson said he was "humbled" when President Bush draped the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, around his neck yesterday.

But such accolades are routine for the doctor who persevered through a childhood of poverty and urban violence to become the youngest department head at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a benefactor distributing thousands of scholarship dollars each year.